From June through December 2009 an email and web-based survey was conducted by social researcher and advice columnist Deborrah Cooper on the effect of income on dating habits of single adults 18-35. More than 3500 people responded over the six month duration of the survey. The website (AskHeartBeat.Com) serves a largely African-American audience, primarily residents of the United States. The survey featured four surprising findings:

#2) Many of the respondents were forced to leave the privacy of their own apartments and move into multi-dweller units with room mates to share expenses and make their meager income go further;

#3) The respondents, even if college students, were independent of their parents and their wages were their sole source of income, even if supplemented by scholarships and grants to pay school fees, and food stamps to assist with groceries; and

#4) Hundreds of the respondents were formerly employed at salaries sometimes triple what they were earning, but due to the economy, took a job earning much less than they were previously simply to have employment and “at least some money coming in.”

Though university studies (which always use students which attend that university, which nationwide at largely middle class Whites) point to a finding that students don’t need to earn more because they aren’t poor to begin with, the AskHeartBeat.Com survey finds facts in complete opposition.

The AskHeartBeat.Com survey proves that minorities, always impacted at higher rates than whites in economic downturns by higher unemployment rates and reduced wages/hours, would be greatly assisted by a higher minimum wage, a wage that is more akin to a LIVING wage of at least $10 per hour. Raising the minimum wage by 35 or 50 cents is a joke and an insult to Americans that wish to care for their families by providing their employers with an honest day’s work for a wage that can actually feed clothe and shelter their children.